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Suffering and Agony in Malgudi: Is There Any? Suffering is the feeling of physical or mental pain or a state of acute pain. Agony is the intense feeling of suffering. Suffering and pain are, generally, used in the same sense; however, there is a difference between these two experiences. Suffering stands for mental experience, whereas pain is a physical experience which when acute can result in suffering. The word suffering may be related to the desires.
Every man has certain desires. When he fails to fulfil these desires, the result is suffering and agony. This experience can be on various levels - physical, mental, psychological and spiritual. It is as integral to life as death is. The suffering has always been an important theme in the literature of all languages and all ages. Even in the two great Hindu epics, Ramayana and Mahabharata, there is the suffering of many characters.
The English novel, ever since its inception, has mostly been written on realistic life, dealing with the manners, modes, rituals, beliefs, and customs of a particular age. Most of the English fiction presents the sufferings and misfortunes of the people of contemporary age. The theme of suffering and agony also runs through the novels of Indo-Anglian writers. Almost all Indo-Anglian writers have shown in their literary activities a keen awareness of the suffering of human beings, however, the degree of suffering varies from writer to writer and so also the ways of presentation.
Some novelists have succeeded in creating pathos by depicting human suffering, whereas some others have used satirical mode to expose the realities of life. In many novels of Anglo-Indian writers, the theme of suffering generally arises from poverty and caste-system. The characters in these novels suffer because either they belong to the lower castes or they are poor people. In some novels, the suffering of the characters also arises from the exploitation of individuals by the industrialists or by those who belong to the high strata of life. In the case of the novels of R. K.
Narayan, not only these few causes can be attributed to the suffering of his characters. Apart from poverty, cast-system and exploitation in the industries, there are several other causes that become responsible for the physical and mental or psychological agony of the characters in his novels. A close study of Narayan's novels reveals that he has presented suffering and agony from various angles. Death is the main cause of suffering in The English Teacher. Domestic disharmony in The Dark Room and generation gap in The Vendor of Sweets are the contributing factors to the suffering of respective protagonists. R.
K. Narayan highlights physical suffering of individuals subjected to torture inflicted by others. Manu, the Rishi, has classified the entire span of mans life in four distinct Ashrams or stages Brahamacharya, Grihastha, Vanprastha and Sanyasa, each period roughly covering twenty-five years. The theme of suffering in Narayan's very first novel Swami and Friends is suggestive of first stage of the Ashrama-system, namely Brahamcharaya Ashram. In The English Teacher and in The Guide, Narayan has presented the suffering of grown ups and that of an old man in The Vendor of Sweets. It seems logically significant that Narayan, who was to delineate the entire life-span of his characters in his later novels, should begin at the beginning of life itself. (Date) In Swami and Friends, Swaminathan is mere a child when the novel opens.
The novel unfolds a number of his experiences and adventures. We observe a psychological change in his character as the story progresses. His character develops through physical and psychological suffering. His experiences at the school and his being beaten by the policemen cause him physical pain. Narayan writes: Now as he turned there was a pang about his hips.
And then he felt as if a load has been hung from his thighs. And again as he thought of it, he felt a very monotonous pain in the head. (p. 103) Swami has to undergo intense mental suffering in the course of the novel right from the beginning to the end. In Narayan's novels, school and fear of examination contribute to the mental suffering of school-going characters like Swami, Babu and Raju. Swami is full of anxiety when he realizes that first terminal examinations are approaching.
Finding a change in the behaviour of his farther and that also of his close friends, he feels vexed. Through Swami, Narayan has, thus, given a psychologically true picture of the mind of a child who feels anxious when his father compels him to study even after the examinations are over: If one has got to read even during holidays, I dont see why holidays are given at all. (p. 84) Not alone Swami, but there are also some other characters in Malgudi who feel worried at the very thought of school and examination. Babu, in The Dark Room, dreads the school and has a total lack of interest in learning. Mali, in The Vendor of Sweets, also not shows any interest in his studies. Raju, the protagonist in The Guide, hates school and study and always tries to run away from his books. He curses his fate to be in the company of his father who teaches him Tamil and arithmetic: Two and two four; four and three, something else.
Something into something, more; some more into less. Oh, God, numbers did give me a headache. (p. 13) Thus, for the younger generation of Malgudi, the main cause of mental suffering is the school and the study. Narayan has brought this out through the mental confusion of the younger characters of his novels. He has thus focused on to show that in the teen-age, one is not able to reflect on certain important and valuable issues of life and hence, whatever seems impossible to one in this age, makes one suffer psychologically. Human life is a journey from childhood to old age, and the span is punctuated by joys and sufferings. In The Dark Room, Narayan presents marital unhappiness and domestic disharmony.
The novel examines the marriage relationship in a state of crisis. (Harry) It presents the suffering of a woman protagonist, Savitri. She belongs to a middle class family of Malgudi who has to undergo intense mental suffering due to marital incompatibility. Narayan has presented male chauvinism prevailed in Malgudi, and Ramani, the husband of Savitri, is the mouthpiece of it. He has portrayed Ramani as a dominating character in the story who has a complete control over the family. He behaves like a dictator and regards his wife merely as a slave, and this is enough to give mental and psychological suffering to Savitri.
The novel mainly recounts relationship between the husband and the wife, but Narayan has been very much successful here, though probably unknowingly, in projecting the suffering of women class in Malgudi at the hands of men who have always been dominating force in Indian culture and Indian society. In the novel, we find that Savitri retreats into a dark room when she is full of grief. This escape to the dark room underlines and symbolizes her mental agony, her restlessness and her helpless lot. Wherever she goes, the dark image of the dark room follows her like a shadow. Thus, Narayan has been successful in presenting the darkness of the dark room as the externalization of her mental anguish. She, in fact, represents thousands of Savitri's of India who suffer mental tortures at the hands of their husbands. (Method) The domestic life of Savitri completely shatters when Ramani develops a love-affair with Santa Bai, a new employee in his office.
This is too much for Savitri who is already disintegrated within. She feels neglected and frustrated and at this stage, she seems to be an intense sufferer. To quote Narayan: A wife is an orthodox milieu of Indian society was an ideal victim of such circumstances. My novel deals with her this philosophy broadly in the background. As Ramani refuses to change his ways, she rebels and shouts at him: Dont touch me! You are dirty, you are impure.
Even if I burn my skin I cant cleanse myself of the impurity of your touch. (p. 112) The scene vividly depicts the agonized and tormented wifes rage and anger. In a desperate condition, she decides to leave her home, her husband and her family. She doesnt want to take anything with her, believing that woman can possess nothing in this man-dominated world: Things? I dont possess anything in this world.
What possession can a woman call her own except her body? Everything else that she has is her fathers, her husbands, or her sons. (p. 113) Chapter seven of the novel is a long interior monologue by Savitri. She is on her way to drown herself in the river. Her mind is numb otherwise she could never have walked through Malgudi at midnight. She is surprised at her own behaviour and ponders over her plight: And I must be someone else posing as Savitri because I couldnt have had the courage to talk back to my husband.
I have never done it in my life. (p. 115 - 16) Savitri is an ideal Indian wife. She can never think of indulging in a controversy with her husband. Thus, after her decision of leaving home, she is caught in a conflict between her wifely devotion and her new individual existence. A. Hariprasanna writes in this connection: There is a conflict within her between the traditional values of ideal womanhood where it is a sin even to talk back to ones husband and disobey him, thus, and her new found individuality. At the time of her departure from her husbands house, in a fit of mental agony, she at first attempts suicide and then decides to live under open sky in her future life.
She is completely unaware of the fact that situation in her new-found individual life can be worse than her previous life at home; and this is exactly what happens. Her loneliness in the temple and stillness in the atmosphere make her suffer terribly. She realises that she cannot live alone and needs a support. Her mental agony makes her feel pity for women who live without any support. She laments: What despicable creations of God are we that we cant exist without a support. I am like a bamboo pole which cannot stand without a wall to support it. (p. 189) Through the suffering personality of Savitri, Narayan has presented the unselfishness of Indian women who do not surrender in the moments of high crisis in life and feel proud even in suffering.
This marital disharmony does not enter the family of Savitri only, but it is also seen in the house of Rosie in The Guide. This novel also deals with the disturbed married life of an oddest couple who, in fact, have n...
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Research essay sample on Suffering And Agony In Malgudi Is There Any
